APA Group interested in buying gas pipelines from Australian LNG ventures

The APA executive said the ventures are particularly interested in selling the core pipelines running from gas fields in Queensland State’s Surat Basin to the port of Gladstone on the coast. He added that any deals would be more straightforward once the pipelines had been built over the next year or so.

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BY ROSS KELLY

SYDNEY -- APA Group is interested in buying pipelines that may
be sold by large gas export joint ventures, CEO Nick McCormack
said.

"Absolutely we're interested," he said on the sidelines of a
conference. "They've got my phone number."

Joint ventures that include the participation of BG Group
and Origin Energy have said they're considering selling some project infrastructure such as
pipelines to boost capital. The ventures are designed to
manufacture LNG, to be exported to Asian utility companies.

Mr. McCormack said the ventures are particularly
interested in selling the core pipelines running from gas
fields in Queensland States Surat Basin to the port of
Gladstone on the coast.

He added that any deals would be more straightforward once the
pipelines had been built over the next year or so.

Origin Energy has said it is pursuing a sale of
infrastructure assets like pipelines that support its Australia
Pacific LNG terminal in Queensland state, after recently
failing to find a buyer for a direct stake in the venture.

The APLNG venture is due to start shipping cargoes of LNG,
to Asian customers from 2015. ConocoPhillips and Sinopec are
also major investors in the venture, which will cost $25.6
billion to build.

APLNG is one of four multibillion dollar ventures at the
port of Gladstone seeking to convert coal seam gas to LNG for
export. Shell and PetroChina's venture, known as Arrow Energy,
is the only one of the quartet that has yet to start construction.

Dow Jones Newswires

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